Tied tongue
by Streetsmartlove
Summary: Bulma is acting strange after her ten-day absence. Those words she's saying isn't for anything.
1. Chapter 1

_Her absence is annoying me. Ten days, ever since she's left, she hasn't came back. I haven't seen her. _

_"Bulma," I discarded the magazine I pretended to read, and walked towards her. "what is the matter with you?"_

_She looks at me and smiles "Hopefully everything lies peacefully, maybe everything." She said once again. _

_That glassy stare and those repeated words are all I receive. I used to think she was joking, but this woman is absent. Nothing but an empty, traumatized body. What has happened to her? Ten days ago she opened the door to this house, and said nothing except those words. Before she left, she was cleaning up the house quickly. Maybe this is temporary. _

_Or maybe she's just dead. _

_"Mother of Bulma." I stormed towards the woman in the kitchen. _

_She turned towards me, shaking yet smiling. _

_"What is wrong with your daughter? It is irking me. Is she sick?" I grumbled. _

_"Supposedly."_

_"Aren't you worried?"_

_"Actually, very."_

_I eyed her. "What is wrong with you?" _

_"Everything, sweetheart."_

_"Damn, look at me!" I shouted at her neck. She glanced at me shakily then turned towards the counter once again, cutting fruit._

_"Asparagus, Vine leaves, Endives?" She turned towards me with a bowl of salad. _

_Unnerved, I left the area. Something outside made strange noises. The same noises I've been hearing many nights sine Bulma came back. I opened the front door, and Yamcha stood impatiently. My brows narrowed._

_"Can I see Bulma?" He said, rubbing his hands together weirdly. _

_"No," I sniffed in a weird odor. "What do you smell of?" I asked, cringing at the hypnotic, powdery smell thy invaded my nostrils. My feet actually lifted from the ground, but I settled myself and rejected this weird feeling. _

_"I must see her..." He looked behind me, but I blocked his view. _

_"What is wrong with her, then? She left ten days ago fine, and came back acting strange. Did you do something to her?"_

_"No." He said, shuddering once again as if he was cold, and scratching his wrists. _

_"What is wrong with you?" I asked. _

_Someone pushed against me softly and shakily, squeezing past the doorway. _

_"H-Hi, Bulma. Let's go, shall we?" He took off his jacket, which I snatched from his hands. _

_"You aren't taking her. Bulma, stay here."_

_"Hopefully everything lies peacefully, maybe everything." Her face frowned as if she was scolding me, but she only said those words. _

_Yamcha pulled her away from the doorway, a tight hand on her wrists. I slammed the doorway. I will track him using this jacket once I investigate this matter. _

_I swear, if he is hurting her away from my presence, I'll promise his last breath of life will be from a punctured lung. I sniffed the jacket in my hand again, and felt the same ecstasy as before. What is this scent? I took my gloves off and rubbed a hand on the jacket and looked at my fingertips. White powder? Is this some sort of medicine?_

_I'll find out what this is myself, I don't want the help of other. It will only create suspicion. I went back to Bulma's mom. _

_"Yamcha took Bulma." Her head whipped around and I finally saw a different emotion in it. Desperation. _

_"Someone always vanishes." She said. _

_"But this is your daughter."_

_"Exactly...however, everything's raucous." She said. Why is she speaking weirdly?_

_"So, you cannot help your daughter?"_

_"Read my lips, then you'll understand what I'm saying." She broke from that strange speech and actually spoke. Read her lips. I thought of what she just said. _

_'Someone always vanishes...exactly, however, everything's raucous.'_

_Hm...I thought of her words, but nothing makes sense. I wrote it down, yet it didn't make sense...wait_

_Something is terribly, terribly wrong._

_**S**omeone_

_**A**lways_

_**V**anishes_

_**E**xactly_

_**H**owever_

_**E**verything's _

_**R**aucous_

_**S**upposedly_

_**A**ctually,_

_**V**ery_

_**E**verything_

_**S**weetheart_

_**A**sparagus_

_**V**ine leaves_

_**E**ndives_

_And for Bulma..._

_**H**opefully_

_**E**verything _

_**L**ies _

_**P**eacefully_

_**M**aybe _

_**E**verything_

_Bulma isn't traumatized–she's being held captured. _


	2. Chapter 2

I smelled the coat again, and tracked the scent. It was night out when I decided to investigate. There is no reason to bring attention. Again, I came across Bulma's mother. She was in the kitchen with all of the lights off except a dim lamp. And at first I thought she was unnerving? Well, she has became an ally, and she loves her daughter more than anyone...so I'll spare her that pain because is feel it also if I lost Bulma.

"I am going to find her."

"I know where she is."

"Where?"

She turned towards me, smiling. A bowl of grapes were in her hand...and she slowly stirred them with her fingers.

"These are grapes. Grapes are delicious, right? Nothing is wrong with them. Except, there's something deep in them...something that's easy to hide with the eye..." She handed the bowl to me, and picked up Yamcha's jacket.

"Things are easy to hide with the eye." She repeated, and gave me the jacket.

She whispered very close to my ear, "Help. Her. Help. Yamcha."

"Yamcha is in pain also, love." She smiled mirthlessly.

So, Yamcha isn't the issue. He's also a victim, she says. But how could she be so sure?

"What is this scent on his jacket?"

"It's cocaine." A raspy voice said. Dr. Briefs revealed himself from the darkness. "A very effective drug. Can kill someone after they get addicted."

"Humph." I tensed, and sat in a chair. They know something. But they won't tell me, at least not obviously.

"It'll all be fine. You're a smart man." Dr. Briefs tossed a fruit in his hands, cut it, then began to eat it. "Whoo, these things are sour..." He jumped.

"Listen," I stood, and frowned towards my "in-laws". "Tell me where she is. I know you won't give me exact answers for whatever reason, but give me something. I'll figure out your petty wordplay"

"Let me tell you a story about my Bulma..." Mrs. Briefs lightly pushed me back into my seat, a hand on my shoulder as she spoke. "Bulma used to want to run away and the local circus when she was young. Traveling around with Goku. Remember that, doctor?" She giggled in a flighty manner I'm used to.

"Yes, always wanting to fly on the trapeze like a monkey. You know, cause of Goku's tail and all."

I twitched at the word 'monkey', but nodded for them to continue, intently staring at the tiles on the floor, elbows on my knees and legs apart.

"That old circus place is now just a low-down factory type of place for...strange...therapeutic reasons. She goes there now." Dr. Briefs said in a sigh.

"Isn't it a bit near a skyscraper?"

"Yes, I believe so."

"What is the place called?" I asked, remembering every piece of dialogue they're saying.

"The memory of the name is long gone. You will know." She pushed the bowl of grapes towards me, and Dr. Briefs gave me the jacket.

"Good-bye, Vegeta. And also..." She brung her index finger to her nose and pressed.

I turned away from them and left without another word. Bulma's mother is actually intelligent. Her wordplay and stealth is very approving. I'd never think id spend time with Bulma's parents and see them as allies. You're usually supposed to hate in-laws.

I soared above the dim sky, snacking on the grapes quietly. Soon, after spotting the skyscraper, I decided to stay near the ground and search. Nobody was really around the area. My chewing quieted once I heard a creaking sound of a gate, shaking in the breeze. Surrounded by bodegas and unlit houses, was a sizable building. The scent ends here.

Strange place. There were vines wrapped around the rusty gates, the entrance door was open slightly, and the white curtains inside the windows shook slightly. These humans do not know how to input fear. This is nothing. I observed for a few seconds, finishing the bowl of grapes.

_"Things are easy to hide with the eye,"_ she says.

I looked at the bowl. It's just a bowl of fruit. Nothing more.

_"These are grapes. Grapes are delicious, right? Nothing is wrong with them. Except, there's something deep in them...something that's easy to hide with the eye..."_

I slowly chewed, thinking of her words. Then, I looked up to the building again. _The Grape Factory. _

Ah, so that's it. Grapes–Grape Factory, the name. So this is the the message. At least it wasn't too shocking—

"What the Hell?" I looked at my fingertips, which were covered with black ink. Fresh ink.

I dived my fingers into the bowl and brought them out. More ink. Urgently, I dumped the grapes out the bowl and almost cried in anger.

The word **GRAPE** was etched into the bowl...yet the _G_ was now on my fingertips, and the _other_ letters stayed permanently.

I held my head and fell to my knees.

_"Whoo, these things are sour..."_ The only sour fruit I know of is... g**rape**fruit. Oh, no...

_"Yes, always wanting to fly on the __**trape**__ze like a monkey. You know, cause of Goku's tail and all." _

_"That old circus place is now just a low-down factory type of place for...strange...the__**rape**__utic reasons. She goes there now." _

"Isn't it a bit near a skysc**rape**r?"

"Yes, I believe so."

Without hesitation, I sprinted into the building, into its blind darkness. Then, I heard the door shut behind me, and the shrieks-and laughs- from someone familiar. Bulma.


End file.
